The Duchess

The Scandalous Ladies of London, Book 2

By: Sophie Jordan

Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells

The thrilling second book in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s amazing new high concept series, The Scandalous Ladies of London, which chronicles the lives of a group of affluent ladies reigning over glittering Regency-era London, vying for position in the hierarchy of the ton. They are the young wives, widows, and daughters of London’s wealthiest families. The drama is big, the money runs deep, and the shade is real. Life is different in the ton.

“I liked my husband well enough … but I like him even better dead.”

It’s been a year since her wretched cad of a husband died and Valencia, the Dowager Duchess of Dedham, is finally her own woman. Flitting from party to party, freedom is sweet and life should be perfect. Until the new duke surfaces.

Nothing like the haughty noblemen who populate the ton, Rhain, the newly minted Duke of Dedham, is a big brawny Welshman with an accent that makes Valencia’s knees go weak as he boldly moves into her home with his six wild unwed sisters. The rude and humorless usurper thinks her vain and spoiled. But with a pittance to her name, Valencia needs his support to remain in London and enjoy all the pleasures her new position as a merry widow has to offer.

So a bargain is struck. Valencia will usher his sisters into Good Society and see them happily betrothed. In return, he’ll give her the financial security and independence she craves. But the more time they spend beneath the same roof, the more she realizes it's not safety she wants but the dangerously seductive Rhain. Valencia has vowed never to risk marriage again. And yet how can she resist the tempting man when he might be the greatest adventure of her life?

©2024 Sophie Jordan (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Totally unexpected plot twist

This book was fantastic. The writer is so descriptive I can’t picture everything. The plot was interesting. Mary Jane Wells is one of the best readers and read this book beautifully.

Such a delight

Loved Valencia’s story very much. As always Mary Jane Wells excels at bringing the characters to life. Devoured this book in less than 24 hours because I could not bear to stop listening.

Phenomenal

Mary Jane Wells and a Welsh accent…chef’s kiss *! There should be a trigger warning though for domestic violence and threatened sexual assault.

Narrator MJW is the Only Reason I Kept Listening

This style of writing consists mostly of long inner thought and explanation passages. Dialog is hard to follow because the inner thought / explanation passages are interjected into the middle of the dialog. The result is that by the time there's a response to the last statement, I've forgotten what the last statement was.

When MJW narrates, the character voices that she creates really work for me. She's very good using different regional English accents and she's 'also very good at several foreign language accents.

But the story kept me frustrated and was an uncomfortable listen because of all the inner thoughts slowing down the storyline progression and because of the lack of dialog flow.

the narrator was amazing

I loved the storyline and want it to continue. The narrator was amazing and the story flowed easily.

narrator excellent. story tedious

This book could have cut out almost 20 chapters. Sophie Jordan does not know how to abridge for audio.

Unexpected delightful story!

I’m looking forward to listening to more audiobooks about this series…
The author and narrator are awesome